Religion in school hit

Sunday

Jul 13, 2008 at 6:00 AM

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Matthew LaClair looked forward to taking his accelerated 11th-grade American history class, hoping to learn how the founding fathers, among other things, framed the U.S. Constitution to guarantee that the government would be free of religious influences.

The 16-year-old got more than he had hoped for — becoming the focus of a lingering separation of church and state controversy that some feel will be discussed for years to come in constitutional law classes.

Mr. LaClair, now 18, drew national media attention back in fall 2006 after complaining that David Paszkiewicz, his history instructor at Kearny High School in Kearny, N.J., was proselytizing.

The teen, who felt uncomfortable with what his teacher was saying, secretly taped eight classes, which revealed Mr. Paszkiewicz discussing his faith and telling his students that heavenly salvation could only be attained through Jesus Christ.

“I don’t have any problem with what he believes in,” said Mr. LaClair, who spoke yesterday afternoon at the annual summer outing of the Greater Worcester Humanists group. “But I do have a problem about him talking about his religion in a public high school and trying to convert his students.”

Mr. LaClair graduated last spring and will attend The New School in New York City this fall, hoping one day to become a broadcast journalist. Mr. Paszkiewicz, who is the youth pastor at Kearny Baptist Church, still teaches at Kearny High.

What happened almost two years ago still bitterly divides the town of Kearny, a community of about 41,000 that’s located across the Passaic River from Newark. It also has provided further fodder in the long-running debate about the role of religion in public classrooms.

“I am saddened, frustrated, and just angry about how school officials handled the whole thing,” said Mr. LaClair.

He was surprised that most people in Kearny ended up supporting Mr. Paszkiewicz, a well-liked 16-year veteran of the school system.

Mr. LaClair said that even many longtime friends turned against him. One student sent him a death threat.

“He’s so convincing that you like to hear him talk,” said Mr. LaClair of his former teacher. “He’s charming and calming. I also think a lot of people thought that I was personally attacking Jesus and his faith. I never intended to do that.”

Mr. LaClair, who noted that his parents did not ascribe to a particular faith and attended a variety of churches and synagogues for worship services, said he should have guessed that he might find Mr. Paszkiewicz’s course objectionable.

“My sister’s friends warned me that he often brought religion into the classroom discussion. At the time, I didn’t really think anything of it,” said Mr. LaClair, who received the 2008 American Humanist Association Pioneer Award. “But from the start, he discussed his beliefs. I let it go the first day. But then the next day, the same thing happened and I started to think that he was doing something wrong.”

According to Mr. LaClair, Mr. Paszkiewicz, during class time, advocated the theory of creationism, denigrated the beliefs of Muslims, and said that only Christians were destined for heaven. In one discussion, Mr. Paszkiewicz observed that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s Ark.

“He basically said that if you didn’t follow Jesus you’d go to hell,” Mr. LaClair said.

Shortly after classes began, Mr. LaClair told the school principal about his misgivings and followed up that discussion with a letter.

Nothing happened until Oct. 6, when Mr. LaClair met with the principal, Mr. Paszkiewicz and the History Department head “in a tense meeting.” Mr. LaClair’s parents were not allowed to attend.

During the meeting, Mr. Paszkiewicz denied Mr. LaClair’s charges and said that much of what he said during class had been taken out of context.

Mr. LaClair said his teacher said that he needed his job because he had four children dependent on him, including one with kidney disease.

“It was almost like he was saying that I’d be killing the kid, if I continued to push forward with my complaint,” said Mr. LaClair.

It was during that meeting that Mr. LaClair revealed, for the first time, that he had taped some of the classroom discussions.

“The whole tenor then changed, and the meeting ended soon after,” said Mr. LaClair, noting he then followed up with a letter to the school superintendent and to the local board of education. “Still nothing happened. They just wanted to sweep it under the rug.”

Frustrated with a lack of response, Mr. LaClair told his story to the local newspaper. He said he was surprised with the response, with many charging that he had set up the teacher and that he had an “agenda” that he wanted to pursue.

It wasn’t until The New York Times reported the issue a month later that Mr. LaClair said he finally started to get some support.

Eventually, Mr. LaClair reached a settlement with school officials who allowed three prominent speakers to talk to the student body about the separation of church and state, evolution, and other related matters.

School officials also told Mr. LaClair, who ended up getting a B for his work in the course, that they had taken “corrective action” against Mr. Paszkiewicz.

“I could have sued, but that wouldn’t have helped,” said Mr. LaClair, who wants to write a book about his experience.

“If I won the case, I’d only get money. There would be no satisfaction because, even to this day, they (school officials) just don’t understand why I made an issue of what happened in those classes.”